The programme's editor Paul Royall apologised on Twitter on Tuesday for the mistake hours after the bulletin was aired.

"BBC News at Ten is very sorry wrong images were used to mark the death of Shashi Kapoor. Not our usual standards and I apologise for any upset."

But the error was criticised by some of the corporation's own stars on social media. Adil Ray, the creator and co-writer of BBC One's Citizen Khan, tweeted: "Someone at the BBC thought the brown person in this VT is the same person.

.@BBCWorld really disappointed on the errors made on BBC news at 10.00 just now. One of India’s most famous actors who passed away #RIPShashiKapoor was completely misrepresented with images of @SrBachchan and his uncle Rishi Kapoor being broadcast.

"Worse still, neither of them are the deceased actor Huw refers to. It's poor when it would have taken them seconds to verify. Not enough care."

Aasmah Mir, who presents Saturday Live on BBC Radio 4, said she was "really annoyed" by the error.

In a statement, the BBC said: "BBC News at Ten is very sorry the wrong images were used to mark the death of Shashi Kapoor. The piece did not meet its usual standards and the programme has apologised for any upset."

An Indian television news channel too mistakenly tweeted the demise of Congress politician Shashi Tharoor, while reporting on Kapoor's death on Monday. They too, later apologised.

@BBCNews - I know us Indians all might look alike to you ;) but you just announced the death of #ShashiKapoor and showed clips of two other actors who are still alive - one who is his nephew (Rishi Kapoor) -maybe cross check this with Bollywood fans next time? #diversityfail#bbc